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The Nirvana connection made stars of The Vaselines the world over, and the Glasgow duo - once a couple who split both romantically and musically - reformed a decade ago with an army of new fans who had come to them through the Seattle grunge legends.

Part art installation by British artist Luke Jerram and part month-long music festival, the event has been running at the iconic Mackintosh Church in Maryhill since last May, and Frances and Eugene Kelly are playing a pared back set, without their backing band, this Friday (June 22).

We caught up with Eugene ahead of a date under the full moon …

The Museum of the Moon is set to stun (Image: Luke Jerram)

The Mackintosh Church is a fascinating venue - is it the weirdest place you’ve played?

I don’t think we’ve ever played in a church before, never mind underneath a massive moon. It’s as weird as it gets. I used to pass it years ago on the bus, but I’ve never been in, so I’m looking forward to it. And we don’t have to pray either!

Was it an immediate ‘yes’ when you were asked to play Museum of the Moon?

We’ll say yeah to anything! It looked like a really interesting place to play, and we’re doing this one as a duo, because we thought it would be a good one with no band behind us.

People have seen us play lots as a band, but this is a bit more like busking. It’s like The Proclaimers, or doing stand up.

The Vaselines (Image: The Vaselines/Museum of the Moon)

Cult Scottish bands from the late 80s and early 90s seem to be growing in popularity again. Do you think you’re attracting the same fan base, or are younger people who missed you the first time around coming along to gigs?

You really don’t know who’s going to turn up. You always think it’s the same people at every show, especially in Glasgow, and that’s your audience - but it’s not. Sometimes I worry we can’t play Glasgow as often because the same people will get bored with it, but it can be a completely different crowd each time.

We’ve been back together for the last 10 years but you see people our age, the people we used to hang about with, and you see younger people who’ve gotten to know us over the past 20 or 30 years - maybe their mums and dads have the records or they’ve found us through Nirvana. That’s great for us - when we do a full band show, which is a bit more full on, it’s the younger people at the front and older people at the back. It keeps us feeling young.

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Did you ever think, back when you were in your 20s, that you’d still be playing Vaselines songs in 2018?

I didn’t - especially when we split up. That was kind of messy, and we thought we’d never speak to each other again. Over time we started talking, then 10 years ago we thought we’d do a couple of one offs and see what happened.

We’re a part time band really, but it’s good to keep playing. I can see why Mick Jagger’s still jumping about the stage at whatever age - you still get a buzz from it. It keeps you young and you just don’t want to give that up.

What are you playing for Glasgow on Friday night?

I think just songs that we think will work. In the duo set-up we play a few songs we haven’t done before as a band, because we never got round to rehearsing them. It’s easier with two of us, so we’ll play a lot from the last record that we never usually get to play, and anything else that feels right.

We do always feel a bit of pressure to play the songs Nirvana covered, because they’re the ones people know. I sometimes feel like I’m losing concentration on songs like Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam because I know it so well - it’s a lull for us, but it’s a chance to look at the audience and check that people are enjoying it.

The Nirvana connection is always there in people’s minds - do you ever wish people would move on and not ask you about it?

We can’t - we’re so grateful for them for giving us a chance to make music for the last few decades. Frances and I separated and made music on our own after The Vaselines - I don’t think we’d have done that if we didn’t get the boost from Nirvana letting the world know who we were. We’d be another band from that era who put out a couple of singles then disappeared.

I feel sad that I never got the chance to speak to Kurt [Cobain] and express how grateful we are. But you can never say ‘we don’t want to talk about it’.

It’s a magic thing to happen to any musician, that some other musician likes your stuff enough to play it live and then record it - and, of course, they became one of the biggest bands in the world. I always want to say thank you.

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You’ve been back together, albeit ‘part time’, for 10 years now. What’s next for the Vaselines?

We have no plans to record just now. We will at some point, maybe in the next three or four years. We’re not even thinking about it - right now we’re just happy to play a couple of shows a year and see what happens.

I love touring but Frances can’t because she has three kids and a yoga business and it takes a lot out of you to do. But it’s my favourite part of being in a band, and I miss the travel. Wait a few years, when the kids are older, and maybe we can get a crazy bus and drive around the world.

The Vaselines perform in 2010 (Image: Getty Images)

In the meantime, you can catch The Vaselines at Museum of the Moon at Mackintosh Church this Friday (June 22). Head to museumofthemoon.com for more info.